Sherman Beck USA, b. 1942
Ancestors, 2021
Oil on canvas
32 x 42 in
81.3 x 106.7 cm
81.3 x 106.7 cm
8508
Further images
This piece from Sherman Beck’s Mask series, also referred to as his Ancestor series, portrays one human face juxtaposed with six traditional African masks. Inspired in part by the poem...
This piece from Sherman Beck’s Mask series, also referred to as his Ancestor series, portrays one human face juxtaposed with six traditional African masks. Inspired in part by the poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, which begins, “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” this series of paintings examines the relationship between traditional African masks and the masks we create with our own expressions on our faces as we go about our day. The six masks in this painting are each identified according to their location of origin and local name, while the one actual human face is identified as “Afn” and listed as “made in U.S.A.”